


Right beside you

by Elisexyz



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Grant Ward Isn't Hydra, Protectiveness, Season/Series 02, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-14 01:26:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16030145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elisexyz/pseuds/Elisexyz
Summary: “What thehell, Jemma?!” he finally bursts out, turning abruptly towards her.She sighs. “I knew you’d be mad.”“Mad?! I—I ambeyondmad, what—what the hell is this?!”(...)“This is me giving my contribution when SHIELD needs it most,” she replies, calmly. Feeding him the company line is a good, neutral way to start.“You are ascientist,” Grant hisses. “You should be—sciencing. In a lab.”





	Right beside you

**Author's Note:**

> For the Tumblr prompt: [“I knew you’d be mad.” + Biospecialist](http://heytheredeann.tumblr.com/post/178220685554/i-realize-its-not-on-the-list-but-i-knew-youd). I'm afraid there isn't much plot here XD It's... uh... semi-fluffy fighting without plot?

As soon as the door is safely closed behind them, Jemma knows that there’s going to be an explosion. He stayed quiet throughout the whole drive to his apartment, eyes fixed on the road, jaw tight and not even a bit of music on to fill the silence, so there’s no way he hasn’t been mulling it over and building up an insane amount of rage.

She stares at him as he drops his bag on the table, back turned on her and shoulders visibly tense.

“What the _hell_ , Jemma?!” he finally bursts out, turning abruptly towards her.

She sighs. “I knew you’d be mad.”

“ _Mad_?! I—I am _beyond_ mad, what—what the hell is this?!”

The whole reason why Jemma and Coulson agreed not to give Grant an heads-up is that they both knew perfectly well that he would have thrown his professionalism out of the window and that he would have marched back into SHIELD’s headquarters to make them drop that plan, and apparently they had been right, because he looks like he’s ready to smash a couple of heads in – she assumes that Coulson is pretty high on his list, at the moment.

Unfortunately, not alerting Grant means that she’s now stuck with having to explain things to him on her own, which is a nuisance, especially when she knows that he’s going to make at least a couple of good points. If he stops freaking out, that is.

“This is me giving my contribution when SHIELD needs it most,” she replies, calmly. Feeding him the company line is a good, neutral way to start.

“You are a _scientist_ ,” Grant hisses. “You should be— _sciencing_. In a lab.”

“I _will_ be ‘sciencing’ in a lab,” she points out, throwing in a slick grin that is met with a look that couldn’t be any less amused if he tried.

“I meant a _SHIELD_ lab,” he clarifies, as if there was any need. “What is Coulson _thinking_ —”

“He needs someone to keep an eye on what’s going on in Hydra’s labs.”

“That’s what _I_ am here for,” he grunts, rubbing his face with both hands.

She rolls her eyes. “You don’t have access to the labs. He needs someone to work with them on whatever it is that they are doing.”

He stares at her for a few seconds, like he can’t believe that they are actually having this conversation – he’d probably much rather be having hallucinations.

“Dammit, Jemma,” he finally says. “You are not a specialist, and you are an _awful_ liar—”

“I practiced,” she shrugs. “With May. I’m better at it.”

Grant snorts in a show of blatant scepticism, and she’d probably be much more offended if her own confidence in that particular ability wasn’t so lacking.

“Plus, I hardly had to lie to convince them,” she adds.

Grant raises his eyebrows questioningly.

“I told them I loved you more than SHIELD. That’s not a lie,” she explains, and in all honesty she’s sort of hoping that the sentiment will soften him a little.

It actually works: his expression relaxes in a slight smile and his shoulders drop a little, but it doesn’t last long.

“That’s good,” he admits, and although he looks tense again, at least his tone is quietly impressed, less hard than before. “But it’s not enough to survive undercover in Hydra for what could be _months_.”

“That’s why I’m glad that I’ve got you to watch my back,” she replies, offering a smile.

Grant stares at her for a few seconds before shaking his head to hide an amused grin. “That might not be enough either,” he adds then, sobering up and looking at her with a fearful, kicked-puppy look that makes her stomach twist.

“Of course it will. It always has been, hasn’t it?” she points out, walking up to him so that she can wrap her arms around his torso and press her cheek against his chest. He envelops her into a hug as well, sighing.

“This is different. This isn’t some mission, it’s—it’s _my_ line of work, and you are not trained for it. It could end badly.”

She shrugs. “Technically, most of what we have been doing in the past months is something I am not trained for. I’m still here, aren’t I?”

He laughs quietly. “Yeah, I suppose you are.”

A pause. “Are you still mad at me?” she asks, rubbing her face against his shirt a little, which she supposes is playing dirty, because she knows he finds it adorable, but still, having Grant be mad at her past this conversation would be a bummer: she hasn’t seen him in a couple of months, she’s missed him, and she’d hate it if he decided to hold a grudge.

“I’m not mad, I’m just worried,” he sighs, stroking her back. “And I’m going to have words with Coulson about his lack of judgement. Is he going insane or what?”

“Give him a break, SHIELD is a mess right now,” she replies. “Plus, I agreed immediately, no convincing required.”

“That’s because you _are_ insane, but I knew that already.”

“No, jackass, that’s because I missed you and I’m glad that now I’d be here to notice if you ended up dead in a ditch.”

She can’t wait to finally sleep at night knowing that he’s safe, right beside her, and that all the horrible things that could come as a repercussion for being discovered gathering intel from inside Hydra didn’t happen, not today at least. She can delay the worry to tomorrow.

“I won’t, because _I_ have actual experience with this,” he says, teasingly, and Jemma smiles a little at the more relaxed note in his voice.

“You are an asshole,” she comments, flipping him lightly in the back.

He chuckles, tightening his hold on her a bit. He stays silent for a moment, before adding: “I’m going to have your back every step of the way, alright? It’s going to work out fine.”

She gets the feeling that the reassurance is more for him than her, but it warms her nonetheless. “I never doubted it,” she smiles.


End file.
